Paradise
by Arrowachi
Summary: A year after Kakashi became a Jonin he encountered a driven young man named Ishi. Now, years later, he crosses paths with Ishi again. However this time it will be nothing like Kakashi expected. More action and excitement than it sounds. Ideas for a better blurb greatly appreciated.
1. First Encounter

The clouds obscuring the moon were dark and heavy with rain, making the night even blacker. A stray beam of moonlight pierced through the clouds and glanced off a shock of silver hair. The clouds shifted and the moonlight slid aside revealing a young, masked, Jonin. He was a bit short for a ninja of that level but at 14 he hadn't quite got his growth spurt yet. His deadly skills and recently obtained Sharingan also compensated for the lack of height.

As the moonlight once again faded, Kakashi adjusted his headband. He had pretty much gotten used to covering his left eye but, even after a year the eye still gave him pain at times. He looked around noting the positions of the four other ninja in his squad, as he did so he ran through the mission details in his head. _A small village to the south of Konoha had recently been plagued by a group of bandits. While a few of these bandits were run of the mill, the bulk of the force was made up of rouge ninja. As such a representative from the village had approached Konoha and had requested help dealing with the problem. Since the rouges were not very skilled, the request was labelled as a B rank mission and three Jonin and three Chunin were dispatched to complete the mission. Kakashi and his squad had arrived at the village a few hours earlier, had sent the villagers into the nearby caves for protection and had left a Chunin to guard them. They were now waiting in the tree cover outside of the small town for the villains to show themselves._

A slight movement caught in his peripheral vision brought Kakashi out of his musings and into full alertness. He carefully watched as a group of eight figures crept into the silent village. Kakashi raised his hand to give the signal to attack but hesitated for a moment; the request had detailed the band was made up of twelve so where were the other four? The crash of a door being broken in prompted him to give the signal and five more figures, weapons flashing, fell upon the unsuspecting eight creeping through the town.

As the non ninja combatants were killed the force thinned but the battle became more intense. The rouge ninja, seeing their numbers thinning, began using more destructive techniques and the village began to take the brunt of it. Ducking behind a building, Kakashi prepared a fire ball jutsu. As his cover was destroyed, he leaped out and unleashed it upon his enemy. He then quickly followed it up with a few precisely thrown kunai before his enemy could recover from the fire. As his enemy fell, Kakashi surveyed the scene before him. The village was barely standing, just a few outbuildings were left and they either had holes through the walls or were burning. The last few rouge ninja were being taken care of but the number was still only eight, the other four had not joined when the battle had began. Uneasiness assaulted Kakashi's mind as his suspicion grew. He waited silently, searching, his senses straining. _There! A spike of chakra activity coming from… oh crap! The caves! There must have been a spy in the village, but why hadn't the Chunin signalled or raised an alarm?_

Kakashi sped off towards the caves, dreading what he would find. He imagined finding all the villagers slaughtered like sheep and the Chunin under his command lying dead, the first one killed. Kakashi shook his head trying to dispel the images. There's no way he would let that happen, he had to get there in time. He would not let his comrades die!

As he neared the caves he slowed his frantic pace and observed the scene. No blood marred the area where he had left the guard, which was a good sign. Cautiously he peered inside the cave, he noticed an unfamiliar guard standing near the entrance, and the Konoha Chunin lying bound and unconscious behind him. A quick look with the Sharingan revealed that the ninja was caught up in a genjutsu. Kakashi couldn't see the three other ninja but, he surmised from the sound of the voices, they were probably around the corner where the villagers were hiding. A shout from deeper within the cave caused the rouge guard to turn and expose his back to Kakashi. _Bad move._ Kakashi took that moment of distraction and silently assassinated the careless ninja. After lowering the dead weight to the floor Kakashi turned his attention to the unconscious Chunin. He untied the unconscious man, placed his hand on the ninja's shoulder and whispered "release". The Chunin slowly opened his eyes and blurrily starred at Kakashi. After being silently reassured that the Chunin was fine, Kakashi instructed the ninja to return to the main group and inform them of the situation. As soon as the Chunin had left, Kakashi ventured deeper within the cave.

Finding cover behind a large rock, Kakashi silently spied on the three rouge ninja before him. They had cornered the villagers in a large room and were interrogating the village leader.

"Alright old man, tell us were it is and don't give us that 'I don't know what you're talking about crap.' We know it's around here somewhere." The leader remained silent and the interrogator became enraged. "Fine if that's the way you want to play it!" he struck the old man with the back of his hand and he flew into the wall. A young boy, about 12, cried out in distress and rushed to the old man's side. The interrogator turned to speak to another rouge; from his authoritative air Kakashi assumed that he was the ring leader of the bandits. "The old guy won't talk at all, what should we do? No one else would know anything about it. You think we really might have the wrong place?"

The boss pondered the interrogator,s words before he replied. "It is a possibility that we have the wrong place. We have searched the area thoroughly and no one seems to know the whereabouts or heard of the item. I suppose the only thing to do is dispose of the witnesses and move on to the next area."

The third ninja raised his head, "What about the Konoha ninja?"

"They should have finished up with the useless ones by now," The boss replied, "so we need to hurry up here and leave."

"Right lets clean up the evidence shall we." The third said with a sadistic grin. "Lets start with the useless old guy." He chuckled evilly and moved toward the helpless old man lying in a heap on the floor. Suddenly a rock flew through the air striking the ninja on the cheek. The man flinched and brought his hand up to his cheek, cursing as he felt a warm trickle of blood. He glared at the culprit, the small boy who had ran to the old man's side.

"Thanks for volunteering to be the first to die." The third growled. "Don't worry this _will_ hurt a lot!" The boy shivered and cowered against the wall. The rouge struck at the boy with his sword but the powerful swing was stopped with a jarring clang. Confused the ninja looked down and found himself staring into a fierce, steel grey, eye. Kakashi pushed the startled ninja back and ordered the young boy to a safer position. Once he saw the boy was safe Kakashi pulled up his headband, revealing his Sharingan, and prepared for a fight.

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Ta Da!! The first chapter of my first FanFic! I really hoped you enjoyed it. Sorry if you find the chapter short but I really wanted to get a chapter posted. Please review and tell me what you think. :^)


	2. Sticky Threads

_Once he saw the boy was safe Kakashi pulled up his headband, revealing his Sharingan, and prepared for a fight._

_

* * *

_

Kakashi flinched as his Sharingan immediately began to draw on his chakra. _ Taking into account the chakra used in the village and the rate this eye consumes it, I have about 10 minutes to finish this up. With three enemies and villagers to protect…I have to finish this quickly. _ He launched himself at the third before the rouge could recover from the shock of his sudden appearance, and sliced at his throat. At the last second the third ducked under Kakashi's attack and his chin met violently with Kakashi's foot. He flew across the room and impacted the far wall with a bone crunching thud. He struggled to get up but his efforts were permanently halted by some well thrown shuriken and kunai.

Kakashi quickly switched his attention to his next target, the interrogator. The silver haired ninja launched himself toward the surprised sadist. His Sharingan spun as he saw the interrogator begin to start a teleportation jutsu. Quickly Kakashi changed directions, just as the rogue completed the hand signs, and stabbed at what was a second before empty air, but was now a shocked and terrified ninja. The rogue had effectively teleported into the kunai that was now buried in the base of his throat.

The whole exchange had only taken seconds, but when Kakashi said quickly, he meant it. Kakashi turned his attention to the leader. He was still seated on the rock and appeared to have his guard down. However, one look at the leader's eyes told Kakashi different. They were a sickly green colour and, as they met his mismatched pair, the thin mouth under those eyes twisted into an evil smile.

"So young yet so deadly." The leader laughed. "I heard of the silver hair and the mask, but the eye… There were rumours of a single Sharingan user, but I didn't expect him to be you."

"Do I know you?" Kakashi retorted.

The leader chuckled, "I don't suppose so. Surely you didn't think that such a young boy attaining such a high rank in such a short time would go unnoticed. " He laughed again this time longer.

Kakashi frowned, "Death doesn't care how old you are." The leader laughed on. "What's so funny?"

The leader stared at the wall behind Kakashi's left shoulder. "Forgive me for being excited, but," his gaze slid down to stare at Kakashi's eye, "I have always wanted to fight a Sharingan user. It is said that they can see the future, and what I've seen here hasn't disproven the theory. What will my future be I wonder?"

A cold shiver ran involuntarily down Kakashi's spine from the creepy demeanour of his opponent. "There's no need to wonder. I will kill you."

"The future is always uncertain." The leader said with a creepy giggle.

The two ninjas then attacked each other, Kakashi with the fury of a wolf protecting his pack, and the leader with the deviousness of a spider spinning its web. They clashed, sparks flew, and shock ran through the young Kakashi. _He is different than the other two. A whole separate class._ Kakashi had underestimated the creep and he was going to pay for it. Kakashi tried to disengage in order to regroup and re-evaluate, but any attempt to retreat would give the leader an opening.

Suddenly, Kakashi felt the leader shift his weight and knew this was going to hurt. The leader swung his right leg around and Kakashi forced his body to relax in order to absorb and lessen he blow. Despite his efforts, Kakashi felt the kick resonate throughout his body and knew some of his ribs had cracked. He got his feet under him and skidded to a stop before he hit the wall.

That mistake had been good for something, now Kakashi had a better idea of how to fight the creep. The leader relied a lot on his immense strength and weight in order to bear down on his opponent and prevent them from moving. This meant that, because of Kakashi's smaller stature, prolonged close quarters combat was not an option. However, the leader was obviously not used to fighting younger, smaller and lighter opponents. Kakashi was smaller, faster (hopefully) and more dextrous than the bigger man, he would use this to his advantage.

Kakashi crouched and took off running. He would hit low and fast, never staying on one spot, or getting in too close for long. He dashed around behind the leader and sliced at his calves. However the leader was faster than expected and the planned hamstringing turned into a shallow cut. Kakashi quickly jumped away before the rogue had a chance to completely turn around.

Kakashi kept up his strategy of low and fast, and managed to get a few good strikes in, but the leader was to fast for him to inflict any crippling attacks. His Sharingan and speed had kept him from getting hit so far, but Kakashi could feel a headache coming on. Ever since he had gotten the Sharingan, whenever he overused it he got debilitating headaches. While these headaches had lessened the more Kakashi used the eye and as his body adjusted to it, the headaches were still a problem.

Kakashi started another attack going in for the Achilles tendon, when suddenly his headache intensified, stunning him for a moment. A moment was all the leader needed however; he took the rare opportunity, turned and struck at Kakashi's vulnerable head with his fists. In the nick of time, Kakashi broke out of his daze and brought up his arms, blocking the blow but causing him to be thrown across the room.

Kakashi lowered his arms and quickly braced himself for an attack. Surely the leader would take the opportunity and follow up on his attack. Leaving an opening like this unexploited would be stupid; it was first year academy stuff: "follow up attacks in order to keep the enemy off balance". However, the leader just stood there and gave Kakashi a creepy "I've got you now" like grin. Confused, Kakashi checked himself over. No wounds, no tags of any kind, nothing seemed to be wrong… until Kakashi looked at his arms.

There were thick, almost clear, sticky thread like, strands attached to his forearms where he had blocked the leader's attack. He tried to cut them away with his kunai, but instead of parting, the threads just stretched a little bit. Kakashi followed the strands with his eyes back to the source, the leader's hands.

"What the heck?" Kakashi whispered.

The leader chuckled, "I can tell that you are a bit confused. Shall I enlighten you?"

"Please don't", Kakashi sighed, "I need to have this done by Christmas."

Ignoring the sarcasm, the leader began his explanation. "Those webs come out of my palms and now that they have been attached to your arms, I have complete control of them. Any resistance is futile, soon I shall defeat you and-"

"So you just stuck some sticky threads to my arms and expect to manipulate them any way you want by pulling the threads and moving my arms like a puppet." Kakashi interrupted. "It's really not complicated enough to require an explanation."

Flustered by Kakashi's interruption and dissection of his technique, the leader spluttered, "They're _**webs**_, not sticky threads, and they are unbreakable." The leader yanked on the sticky threads...er... webs, and smashed Kakashi into a wall. "See."

Kakashi stumbled to his feet. He was starting to feel the early symptoms of chakra exhaustion and his headache was getting worse every second. These webs were going to be a problem if he didn't do something about them soon. The leader pulled Kakashi in close, punched him in the stomach, and then Kakashi had a plan. It was a risky plan but the leader was predictable enough for it to work. It would end the fight, and end it quickly.

"Too shocked for words I see." The leader chuckled. He was so absorbed in his gloating that the leader didn't notice Kakashi swiftly performing hand signs. He yanked Kakashi towards him once again, and only then did he notice it. The sound of a thousand birds and a bright glow.

_Chidori, with the added momentum of the creep's sticky threads pulling me in this will be the last blow. _Kakashi aimed was for the leader's heart, but an instinctive twitch by the leader's left hand caused the blow to miss the vital point. Instead of the leader dropping dead to the floor, Kakashi found his arm stuck through the leader's shoulder where the arm joins to the body. If Kakashi's hand had been bigger the arm would have been cut off, but instead he was trapped close to a very angry and dangerous ninja.

Kakashi tried to pull his arm out, but his efforts were stopped by the leader's large hand closing around his right arm. As Kakashi looked into the pain and hate twisted face that was before him, the leader pulled the arm out of the gaping wound and slowly began to tighten his grip on it. Struggling, Kakashi tried to free himself from the creep's iron grip, but pain and anger had made it unbreakable. He groaned in pain as he felt his bones bend, but the groan soon evolved into a scream as the leader slowly broke, and then began to crush, the bones in his forearm. The leader grinned at Kakashi's suffering and squeezed harder.

The rogue would have continued in this torture, but voices drifting in from near the cave mouth stopped him. He released the arm and Kakashi dropped to the floor, panting and shaking from pain and exhaustion. The Chidori had used up most of his chakra and his headache was now at its peak. Kakashi struggled to get up but the leader stopped him by planting a heavy foot on his chest.

"Looks like you will have to wait a while longer to kill me boy." he wheezed. "However I can't have you following me until then." The leader bent and clumsily tied the remnants of the webs around Kakashi's feet. Then, holding his heavily bleeding shoulder, he fled the cave just moments before the Konoha ninja came into sight.

Kakashi propped himself up with his left elbow and tiredly looked around. The sticky threads around his feet would have been easy to untie if he had had the strength to reach them. Other than that, and his "slightly" crushed arm, everything seemed to be fine. Everything referring to the villagers and the two dead rogues, and fine being the villagers not dead or injured badly and the two rogues still dead. The Konoha ninjas' voices drew his attention, and the first thing Kakashi noticed was that they were all there. A few were injured, but none were dead. They noticed Kakashi on the floor and the two dead ninjas, and the medical ninja in the squad immediately rushed to his side. She began to fire off questions at him, probably generic ones like what happened and such, but the words didn't seem to reach his brain. Kakashi began to answer the probable questions but an overwhelming exhaustion cut off his words. _Seems like the sticky threads had some kind of sedative in them_. The world began to blur and spin then suddenly, Kakashi's world dissolved into darkness.

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Well here's the next chapter. Terribly sorry for the wait, writing a fight scene is way harder than it sounds for me. I really hope you enjoyed it. Please tell me if there is anything I can improve on. Oh, and I would like to know if you would prefer me to indent the new paragraphs or is just going to a new line enough for you?

Thank you for reading :^)


	3. Recuperation

_The world began to blur and spin then suddenly, Kakashi's world dissolved into darkness._

Kakashi awoke with a splitting headache and the inability to move. _I didn't think I had used up that much of my chakra._ Tiredly, Kakashi raised his head and took in his surroundings. It was day, probably mid afternoon judging from the shadows. He was lying on a makeshift bed, made from a few blankets, under a large oak tree. The tree also sheltered a large number of camps cobbled together from blankets, branches and rubble from the village, which was now completely demolished. There were a few Konoha ninja posted as lookouts and helping with the clean up, but the rest were out of sight. The villagers milled around, the adults talking and working, and the children playing numerous games; the predominant one seeming to be ninja and bandit. Kakashi spotted quite a few of these "ninjas" using bandanas as masks and headbands and groaned.

"What did you expect?" Kakashi saw Rissa, the medical ninja, sit down beside him, "You are pretty close to their ages and performed most of your heroics while they watched. How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Kakashi lied. "And it wasn't heroics, just the mission."

"Ha!" Rissa laughed, "When you're 12 and a ninja who looks around your age saves your life and the lives of your friends then defeats the bad guys, it's the least you can do to call it heroics. You're lying by the way. You've got that squinty, I have a killer headache, look mixed with the annoyance of not being able to move. So how are you?"

Kakashi sighed; he'd gone on too many missions with Rissa to fool her any more. "Headache's not as bad as it was before."

"And the arm?"

"Killing me."

"Good!" Rissa chirped with a smile.

"Good!? How is that good!?" Kakashi growled, his headache making him a worse patient than normal.

"Because," Rissa replied cheerfully, "if you couldn't feel it then that would mean nerve damage and there would then be a **very** high probability of you not being able to use your arm ever again! ^^"

Kakashi flopped his head down. "Wonderful." He groaned. He couldn't decide if Rissa had good or bad bedside manner, she was always cheerful, especially when describing the worst possible scenarios.

Rissa smiled "Don't worry, despite the hand indentation, you should heal up completely. Unless you do something stupid, like punch an immovable object…like last time." Kakashi began to protest but she cut him off by jumping to a different subject like normal, "And be quieter, he just fell asleep and you don't need to wake him up with your sarcasm."

_Hand indentation? Wow, so that's why it hurt so much._ Kakashi looked over to where Rissa had motioned and saw the boy he had saved, sprawled out on his left, sleeping.

"He wanted to be here when you woke up; even though Itold him it wouldn't be for a while. But he insisted, and I said-"

"What?!" Kakashi interrupted Rissa's narration in surprise. "Wouldn't be for a while? How long have I been out?"

"Just a couple of days." Rissa replied lightly. "Not as long as I thought you would be though."

"Why didn't you tell me that first!?" Kakashi shouted in frustration and tried to sit up.

"Sheesh, I told you to be quieter didn't I?" Rissa glanced over to the still sleeping boy. "You didn't ask that's why, and stop trying to sit up, you won't be able to."

Kakashi sighed and tried to regain some patience. Not an easy task with a splitting headache and a flighty subordinate. "What has happened since I left you guys to go to the cave?"

"Well," Rissa began, and Kakashi saw her shift into 'story mode', as he liked to call it. Despite her switching topics so quickly in conversation, when she told a story it was easy to follow and usually contained all the relevant details. "We finished off the remaining bandits and rouges, however not until they had unfortunately destroyed village. It seemed like that when they realized they were going to be beaten; they started to destroy as much as they could. Wanted their deaths to have some sort of impact I guess."

"We had just finished up disposing of the bodies, when the Chunin you had left at the cave came running and reported that you were engaging three higher class rouges on your own. We headed to the cave as fast as we could, but by the time we got there, you were on the floor. After you passed out, this boy told us that the leader, though badly injured, had escaped just before we had arrived. Nate immediately ordered one of our best trackers, Trev, to go after him. I began to treat the most severely injured to prep them for transport, you were at the top of the list by the way."

"After I had stabilized you and the elder, we moved the villagers to a more comfortable location. I began to treat the rest of the injured and the others established a secure perimeter and, with help from the healthy villagers, set up a camp around this tree and hilltop. Yesterday, five of the villagers headed out to nearby villages to ask if they were willing to provide asylum for everybody, they should be back in a week with the results of their inquiries and by that time you should be rested up enough for us to head back to Konoha."

Rissa paused and looked at the boy who was now drooling on the grass. "He told me what happened in the cave. His parents were killed in an earlier attack and the elder, his grandpa, had been taking care of him. When the rogues came to the cave and began interrogating the leader, he was afraid that he would lose another important person and he was resolved to die before he let that happen again. He feels that it is his fault that you go hurt and hasn't left your side yet." She grinned, "But now that you're awake, he can talk to you as much as he wants. After all, with you not being able to move it's not like you have anything better to do."

Kakashi sighed; she must have enlisted this boy to keep him in bed and resting. She was sneaky that way, getting someone to willingly take over her work so she could do something else. The poor soul being coerced usually didn't even realize that they were being used. Rissa grinned mischievously, knowing that Kakashi had figured out her trick but couldn't do anything about it. The sleeping boy stirred and began to wake up.

Rissa rose to leave. "Well, I'll leave you two to get acquainted. Have fun!"

She began to leave but Kakashi stopped her, "Report back to me if anything happens, got it? Just because I have to stay in bed doesn't mean you can keep me out of the loop."

Rissa waved him off. "Don't worry, I'll keep you informed on everything." She then disappeared into a crowd of villagers. Off to do some Rissa like activity no doubt, now that there was a replacement to keep an eye on him. Kakashi watched the boy sit up and stretch. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked around. Noticing that Rissa was gone, he looked at Kakashi and jumped when he saw Kakashi looking at him.

"Wah! You're awake!" he cried out in surprise.

"What wonderful observation skills you have." Kakashi replied sarcastically. The boy looked stricken at the sarcasm and Kakashi felt a twinge of remorse. After all, the boy had been really worried about him.

"Sorry." Kakashi apologized after a moment. "So... what's your name?"

The boy quickly recovered and his face was split by a huge grin. "My name's Ishi I am 12 years old my favourite colour is blue I love blueberries cuz they're blue and they taste yummy blueberries and cream are especially good 'cuz you got the creaminess and sweetness mixing and its just great…" Ishi rambled on about blueberries and how he liked them and Kakashi began to tune him out. Man that kid could talk, shy he was not. As Ishi talked, Kakashi studied the boy's features. He had a round, smooth face with an innocent look. Flinty blue, eyes and shaggy black hair that hung in his eyes a bit. He had a slight build but big feet that indicated he would grow to be tall.

Suddenly Kakashi noticed some commotion on the west side of the camp. He lifted his head to try to see more and Ishi stopped his incessant jabbering to see what he was looking at. It was hard to tell from his angle and there were people obscuring his view, but it seemed to Kakashi that Trev, who had gone after the leader had returned. His conjecture was confirmed when he saw Rissa ushering the Jonin toward him. He looked exhausted and had a few scratches but no other injuries to speak of. Kakashi struggled to sit up despite Ishi's protests and Rissa's stern look. Finally, as Trev reached him, Kakashi managed to get his torso off the ground and into a somewhat upright position. Ignoring Rissa's disapproved look, Kakashi nodded at the Jonin to report.

"I'm afraid I lost him sir." He stated.

"What!?" Kakashi exclaimed. "How? He was wounded and only had a few minutes head start."

"I followed his trail and even caught glimpses of him," Trev explained. "But he was surprisingly fast. As soon as I had caught up to him he disappeared into a large lake north-west of here. I searched all around the lake for any sign of him, but nothing came up. I even searched the lake as much as I could, but the water is dark, murky, and there are high weeds growing in it. Sorry I lost him Kakashi."

Kakashi sighed. "He'll probably be a hassle in the future, but there's nothing we can do about it now. Anything else?"

"No sir." he grinned and nudged Rissa. "Just glad to see that this hack didn't injure you further with her 'treatment'." Kakashi grinned and shook his head. There was a rumour that when Rissa had still been in training she had had a habit of making her treatments a little too… enthusiastic and, in some cases, making some injuries worse. She had broken that habit a while ago but everyone who knew still enjoyed teasing her about it because she always got embarrassed when it was mentioned. Rissa got flustered at the mention of her old habit and took a wild swing at Trev , then blushed even more when he dodged it.

The rest of the week was uneventful. Mostly consisting of Kakashi resting and, despite Rissa's misgivings, exercising as much as he could. Ishi followed him around everywhere, talking and was a welcome distraction to what would otherwise be very boring days. Rissa, true to her word, reported every little thing that happened, like some one washed dishes or did the laundry. It drove Kakashi to near insanity until Rissa got bored of her Annoy Kakashi game and began to just report the important things. As the week drew to a close, Kakashi was rested enough to move about normally. His arm was still healing, and would probably not be useable for another month, but it was better than being stuck in bed. On the day the Konoha ninja were planning to return home, the group of villagers searching for a new place to settle everyone returned. Everyone gathered around the travel weary people and anxiously waited for what they had to say. Kakashi, his arm in sling, followed Ishi to the little gathering and arrived just in time to hear the bad news.

"No one is willing to take us in. They all have limited food and space and cannot support all of us. We will have to find places for ourselves and our families on our own. Sorry to get your hopes up, but I suggest that you all get packing and thinking about where you will move to." The crowd dispersed silently, not seeing any point in protesting the inevitable and thinking about where they would go and the friends they would have to part from. Ishi slowly trudged back to the large oak, leaned against its wide trunk, and slowly sank to the ground. He stared blankly into space for a few minutes, and for the first time all week, was completely silent. Kakashi stood beside him, feeling a bit awkward in the gloomy silence. He didn't know what to do. Should he leave Ishi alone or keep him company? Should he break the awkward silence or let the rare quiet moment persist? Kakashi shifted his feet and quietly cleared his throat. Ishi made no response so Kakashi turned to leave, but just as he began to walk away Ishi started to speak.

"I never thought I would lose everyone I cared about within two weeks. First my parents are killed, then my grandpa is hurt, you're leaving and now my friends will have to go with their parents to different towns and I might never see them again. I never imagined that I would ever have to live where my friends aren't. I don't want to be alone." Ishi stopped as he voice began to tremble and Kakashi felt as if he should say something. The silence began to lengthen and Kakashi scrambled for something to say. Finally he chose one of the first things that came to mind.

"You won't be completely alone and you can always make new friends." Ishi stared at him, surprised that he actually said something so cliché. Kakashi's face reddened with slight embarrassment. "Well you could."

Ishi shook his head. "I don't want new friends. I want _these_ friends. I wish there was a place where people like us, with our homes destroyed, could live. Then no one would have to separate from their friends and everyone could be happy and safe." As Ishi described his imagined paradise his demeanour changed from gloomy to hopeful and his eyes began to regain their playful sparkle. "I'll make it!"

Kakashi looked at Ishi, surprised at his sudden outburst. "Make what?"

"A place where people with no homes can go to live in safety! It'll be great! Anyone will be able to come and it won't matter where they're from or how much money they have! Someone with lots of knowledge and wisdom would be the leader and everyone wouldn't have to worry about food or space to live. It will be perfect! I'll make it! I swear I will!"

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, there was the energetic Ishi he had gotten to know during the past week. "I believe you. It sounds great, this paradise of yours. I can't wait to visit it."

Ishi looked a bit shocked at this statement. "You mean you don't want to help?"

"Ah, no, it's not that!" Kakashi hurriedly explained, "I just wouldn't be much help in_ creating_ a society. I'm better at breaking down established societies or protecting them. Like what I'm doing now, I help protect my village and comrades. I have a big responsibility in doing that, but when you fulfill your dream I'll be sure to come see it." He looked at Ishi and was surprised to see the boy staring at him intently.

"It's a deal then." Ishi stuck out his left hand. "You continue to protect your friends and I will build my paradise. When it's complete you'll definitely come see it. Right?"

Kakashi took his hand, "Right, but my responsibility to my village comes first okay?"

"Right, right. Deal." They shook and Ishi grinned broadly. "I can't wait 'til it's finished."

"You'll have to get started first." Kakashi laughed.

The two boys talked for a while longer. Ishi, explaining how fountains of blueberry juice in his paradise would be perfect and Kakashi, trying to explain that not everyone likes blueberries as much as he did. Ishi was just about to explain the finer points of blueberry picking when Rissa suddenly appeared right behind Kakashi and shouted.

"Boo!" Ishi jumped a foot into the air and squealed in fright, while Kakashi turned around and calmly addressed her.

"What do you want Rissa?"

Rissa sighed in disappointment. "I want to scare you and make you squeal like Ishi did but it's really hard ya know."

Kakashi rolled his eye, "I meant what do you want to tell us?"

"I know that silly." She giggled. "Just teasing, it's really fun you should try it. Ishi, you're grandpa is looking for you, said something about packing, And Kakashi, we should go too. I officially say as your medic that you are healed enough to travel. You're the last to know, so everyone else is ready."

"_I_ am the last one to know that _I_ am healed enough to travel?" Kakashi puzzled. "Isn't that kind of odd?"

Rissa thought about it for a second. "Nope! Not odd at all. Well we're all waiting so hurry up 'k." she smiled and disappeared with an extravagant swirl of flowers and leaves.

Kakashi shook his head. _She just keeps getting more and more dramatic._ He turned to Ishi, saw the sad expression on his face and decided that a long good-bye would only make things worse. He smiled at Ishi and started, "Well I guess I'll see you later. It was nice to meet you and everything. Be sure to finish your paradise. Don't give up." Kakashi began to walk away and Ishi called after him.

"Thank you for saving us! It was awesome to be able to hang out with you and I will definitely fulfill my dream! Don't you do anything stupid like dying 'til you can see it!"

Kakashi gave the boy a two fingered wave and the two friends parted, each going their separate ways; Ishi to go help his grandpa pack for their upcoming journey, and Kakashi to go meet his comrades to head back to their village.

**THE END**

I  
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Just kidding!! ^^ Merry Christmas everyone. The next chapter should be more exciting so sorry for the boringness of this one. Back story just has to be written I suppose.


	4. You've Got Mail

The blinding summer sun beat down upon the dry path and its determined traveler. The season had been unusually hot and the traveler sweated and panted in the heat as he ran. Most people would have to be crazy to run in such heat with such determination, but the traveler was a Courier Ninja and he had a job to do. He kicked up dust as ran past the courier station and onward toward his objective. Inside his bag was a letter addressed to a legend, and there was no way he was going to hand it off to another courier no matter how hot, exhausted or tired he was. He had the chance to speak to a living legend and there was no chance he would pass it up.

The station attendants shook their heads as they watched the courier race past. The crazy rookie was going to kill himself if he continued that pace in the heat. Well, at least he didn't have far to go, one of the only destinations down this road that could warrant such crazy persistence, was the ninja village of Konohagakure.

Kakashi sighed as he closed the cover of his book. He was re-reading the series again and could still remember how he had started; it had been six years ago. He had just gotten back from a mission to protect a village from some bandits; half the bandits had turned out to be ninja and Kakashi's arm had been injured. The village had been destroyed and he and his team had stuck around long enough to allow Kakashi's arm to heal enough to travel. When they got back to Konoha, Kakashi was fully expecting to be able to return to active duty, but the doctors demanded that he stay in the hospital a few days for observation. Kakashi had been reluctant and immediately began plotting ways to escape when Jiraiya had given him a book, and told him it would definitely keep him occupied, guaranteed. Kakashi had been a little put off by the 'No Minors` stamp, but he had been bored beyond description and cracked it open. He was immediately hooked and spent the next four years pestering Jiraiya and finding ways to get the restricted books until he turned 18. Most people had been surprised to see the young genius reading _those_ kinds of books, but now it was surprising to see him read anything else.

Kakashi stopped reminiscing and put his book back in his pouch. It was too hot to read, even in the shade of the tree he was under. He stared at the near empty streets. Most sane people had taken refuge from the oppressive heat in their homes or in nearby river and ponds. '_So why aren't I at home sitting by my fan, instead of cooking outside? Oh yes, because the blasted fan had fallen apart this morning and I can't find anyone willing to fix it today. Of course the stinking piece of junk __**had**__ to break on the hottest day of the year.'_

The sound of running and panting broke Kakashi out of his near lethargic state and he glanced down the street to see and obviously crazy Courier Ninja racing up the road. '_Must be something really important to justify nearly killing yourself; probably for the Hokage or something.'_ He closed his eyes and settled for a nap, hopefully it wasn't a mission request, It was to hot to do anything.

"Kakashi Hatake sir?"

Kakashi cracked his eye open, it was the Courier Ninja, "Eh, need directions or something?"

The young man stood bent with his hand on his knees, trying to catch his breath. "No sir… I have… a delivery… for you… sir." The courier composed himself, rummaged through his bag, and produced a letter and a pad of paper. "Please sign here and here is your letter." Kakashi signed and took the letter fully intending to go back to napping, but the young messenger still lingered.

"Uh, anything else you need?"

"I need a reply sir, the sender was very adamant that I receive a reply immediately upon delivery. If you need paper or envelopes I can supply them, as well as a pen or pencil for writing, sir."

"Okay," Kakashi sighed, "just let me read it first." He looked over the envelope, nothing unusual, just the regular for someone who didn't know his home address: _Kakashi Hatake, ninja, in care of Konohagakure._ No return address, but that was normal for courier mail. He ripped it open and what he read made him forget about the heat.

_Dear Kakashi:_

_I hope this letter finds you well. I have been doing wonderfully and _

_I have some very exciting news. I have finally finished establishing_

_my paradise and everything is ready for you to come. I hope that you _

_will like how I have done things. Please send your reply immediately._

_I can't wait to see you again. _

_Sincerely, Ishi_

Kakashi read the letter again, surprised by the name of the sender. '_Ishi!? It's been six years since I've seen him. I can't believe he created a successful city in such a short amount of time, considering he was 12 when he started.'_ The courier wiped the sweat from his face and the slight movement brought Kakashi back to reality. He took the offered paper and pen and composed his reply.

_Dear Ishi:_

_Good to hear from you again after all this time. I am glad to hear_

_That you've completed your dream city. I'll let you know when I can visit._

_I will come as soon as I can, but it unfortunately won't be for a while._

_Sincerely, Kakashi_

Kakashi sealed his letter in an envelope and gave it to the Courier Ninja. "Here's the reply, and you don't have to be in such a hurry to get it back. You should take it easy in this heat."

The young courier blushed and nodded his consent, then took off back down the street, running, but not as fast as before. As he ran he grinned happily to himself. He had actually gotten to talk to _the_ Copy Ninja, he had also sneakily gotten an autograph, and if things continued the way they were, he might be able to see him more. He couldn't wait to tell his friends.

Kakashi tucked the letter into his pocket and started for the Hokage Tower. He may as well see if he had some leave coming up.

Returning from a visit to the memorial stone, Kakashi adjusted his mask. The heat wave had persisted and he was beginning to consider that he may have to rethink his choice of outfits. _'Sure the mask is useful for a lot of things, but keeping cool is unfortunately __**not**__ one of them.'_

"Ah-ha!" A raucous voice drew Kakashi's attention and he sighed as he recognized it. It was too hot for this.

"I have finally found you my Eternal Rival! I have been searching high and low for you to deliver a message!"

Kakashi faced the self named Konoha's Noble Green Beast and noticed that he was as enthusiastic as ever. "How can you be so energetic in this heat?"

"The power of youth drives me! I will not be so easily defeated by mere weather! I am surprised that you, my Eternal Rival, would be put off by a little sun! One might think you were losing your touch! Shall we have a match to-"

"Didn't you say you had a message for me?" Kakashi cut Guy off, one thing he did not want to do today was see who could climb five trees the fastest.

"Ah yes! Thank you for reminding me! Just what I expect from my Eternal Rival! Mind as sharp as a tack!" Guy stood with his hands on his hips and laughed loudly, Kakashi just rolled his eyes. "Now for the message! There is a Courier Ninja full of the power of youth looking for you! It appears that he has a delivery for you!"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "Again?" he sighed, "Where is he?"

"He is waiting at the gate!" Kakashi headed for the gate and Guy followed him. "You have received a delivery from this youthful courier before?"

"Yah, a bunch. He's been coming every five days for the past month and a half, with a letter and always wants a reply. Honestly it's getting a bit annoying." The pair reached the gate and the same young Courier Ninja waited there. As soon as he saw them he leapt up from where he was resting and raced towards Kakashi.

"Another letter for you sir!" Kakashi nodded and read the new letter.

_Dear Kakashi:_

_I have waited patiently for a while now. In your last correspondences you_

_said that you did not have any leave coming up ye,t but how about now? Are _

_you now able to come? Everything is ready and everyone is excited to meet you._

_I hope you can come soon._

_Sincerely, Ishi_

This made eight letters, and it pretty much said the same thing the others had, Kakashi would have been surprised if the pattern was broken now. After the fourth similar letter he had written a number of reply letters all saying the same thing, with different wording: 'I can't visit now but will tell you when I can.' Kakashi had hoped that he would get the 'don't call me, I'll call you' vibe across, but apparently Ishi wasn't getting the hint. Sure he liked to hear from the kid but this was getting to be a bit much!

Guy watched the exchange between courier and recipient in jealous silence. The young courier was obviously excited to be able to interact with Kakashi. One could tell just by the way he stared, and slightly mimicked him, that he was in awe of the Copy Ninja. Also, judging by the apparent abundance of deliveries Kakashi had been getting, only one conclusion could be drawn… Kakashi had a fan club! This young Courier Ninja must be part of the club and had taken it upon himself to deliver their admiration filled letters to his Eternal Rival! Guy was determined not to lose this blatant challenge and he began devising ways to obtain his own fans full of the power of youth!

Kakashi watched the courier leave and turned back to Guy, who had been unusually silent the whole time. He stared at the exuberant man for a moment then walked away. Guy had that 'I-am-devising-a-brilliant-plan-to-defeat-my-Eternal-Rival' look on his face and Kakashi wanted to be gone before he was forced to participate in a spitting contest or something.

* * *

Sooooooo sorry for the über long wait m(_ _)m. I was going to add more but I didn't want you to wait any longer. The next couple chapters will be very actiony, so think of this as a calm before the storm Mwahahaha!

A HUGE thank you to KakashiKrazed for all the help with this chapter!! I couldn't have done it without you and your super awesome writing advice! Thank you so much!


	5. Purple Wrath

"What the heck was that?" Kakashi yelled over to Rissa.

"An attack, duh!" She yelled back from behind her cover, Kakashi couldn't help but roll his eyes at her sarcasm. He dived for a new hiding place as another pulse of raw energy blew the tree that he was using as cover into splinters. He turned to survey his surroundings, searching for options. They had been ambushed on a pretty standard escort mission while travelling through a small section of dense woods. There was a river that ran through this area that could prove useful but…

"You cannot hide from your righteous punishment!" an unseen voice exclaimed, as yet another pulse skimmed past Kakashi's safety. He was force to think on the fly as he resumed his, as of yet, only strategy of vaulting from place to place. _Come on, think, think! The attacks seem to give off a purplish radiance, so what is he using? He also seems to know where we are even though we haven't seen any sign of him except for these annoying attacks. _As he jumped into the trees to escape another pulse, he spotted Rissa out of the corner of his eye. She seemed relatively unharmed and had found some good cover behind a fallen log. She turned towards Kakashi and motioned for him to 'get over here, like right now'. _She's gotten kind of bossy;_ he couldn't help but think as he rushed to join her.

"So, any ideas?" Kakashi asked when he got there.

"Actually, yes. I think he is using a form of energy store to produce his attacks."

"Do you know where he is?"

"Once again, yes. He seems to be appearing where his attacks dissipate. So if we locate that last one's dissipation point we should find him."

"Give yourself over to my holy self and I will send you to the uppermost level of hell." The voice announced.

"Seriously, we gotta finish him off soon." Rissa said. Kakashi was surprised, it was not often that Rissa was the one to suggest killing, so to hear her say that seemed weird.

"Right," Kakashi agreed, "hopefully by now Yeykl has managed to escort the priest and his document to safety by now… DUCK!" A pulse streaked just above their heads and Kakashi noticed that Rissa was visibly frightened. _No surprise really. This is probably the most uneven odds she has come against. She usually prefers to stay back and provide medical support, then be upfront in the heat of combat. Not that she isn't capable of combat, being a medical ninja she's got amazing control of her chakra and also has a pretty impressive store of jutsu. In fact- _Kakashi fiercely cut off his wandering thoughts, he had to focus.

"Ah ha! I have found you, my jumpy devils!" Kakashi turned to see an elderly man standing 50 feet behind them. _ How did he get behind us so quickly?_ He was dressed much like a priest, but bore a trident symbol upon his chest. Suddenly the priest began to glow a bright purple colour. _Crap_! Kakashi thought. _How the heck did things manage to get this out of control!_

…

Kakashi entered the Third Hokage's office, late as usual, and closed the door behind him; he looked around and noticed that he was not the only one who had been summoned. Rissa stood to one side, shaking her head at him for his lateness. Beside her stood one of the newer Chunin, Yeykl, who was skilled in diplomacy. Sitting on a couch by the wall was an older looking man, some kind of priest by his clothes and lack of hair. Kakashi's gaze moved over to the Hokage, who sat behind his desk, hands clasped together, he did not look too pleased with Kakashi's tardiness.

"Yo, sorry I'm late. There was-" Kakashi looked at the clock, he was more that fashionably late and the looks he was getting told him that no one would appreciate one of is 'excuses'; so he stopped and gave his full attention the Third.

The Hokage nodded toward Kakashi in a 'glad-you-could-join-us' way and began the meeting. "Kakashi, Rissa, Yeykl," He looked at each of them as he spoke, "I am assigning you three the mission of protecting and escorting this man to his destination.

"Kakashi, you will be the leader of this mission." He handed Kakashi a scroll, "The man you are protecting is Lastigen Argernis, he is a priest of the Temple of the Great Clock and he is carrying very important documents that must be delivered. It is expected that you meet some resistance so I am designating this as a B rank. I expect it will take you about a week to reach your destination, so prepare enough supplies to keep Mr. Argernis comfortable."

Kakashi scanned the scroll and raised an eyebrow quizzically. "This temple is only 3 days away at most. Why do you expect us to take week to get there?"

The Hokage smiled cryptically, "You'll see soon enough. You leave first thing tomorrow morning." With that, the Hokage dismissed them and Kakashi headed home to prepare.

Morning came earlier than he liked but Kakashi gathered up his equipment and headed out to the gate anyway. He was surprised to see that Rissa, Yeykl and Lastigen were already there, he _thought_ he had gotten up early, but it didn't matter, they looked ready to go.

"It's about time you got here." Rissa sighed "First thing in the morning usually means dawn." Kakashi glanced at the sun, it had just risen but 'dawn' had been about half an hour ago. He rubbed the back of his head and smiled.

"Well we're all here now." He headed out and glanced back at the rest of the group, "You guys coming? We're burning daylight here, don't lag behind." Rissa planted her face into her palm and groaned, then caught up to him, along with Yeykl and the priest.

They had only been walking for about half an hour when Lastigen sat down in the middle of the road. Yeykl sighed at this, but began to spread out a cloth and set breakfast items upon it. Kakashi and Rissa stared at them in disbelief.

"What are you doing?" Kakashi asked. "We've only been traveling for a little while, there's no way you could need a break already!"

The clock priest looked at him incredulously and said, _"Narr! __Die 6. Stunde am Morgen ist gekommen! __Es ist jetzt, dass ich muss aufhören, was ich tue und comsume Unterhalt bis zur 6. Stunde vergangen ist, durch ein Dekret der großen Uhr!"_ All he received in reply were confused stares from Rissa and Kakashi. Lastigen sniffed in disdain, as if since the two ninja hadn't understood him, they were no longer worthy of his attention, and began to eat the food set before him.

The confused pair turned toward Yeykl who had begun to speak. "He said: Since its 6 o'clock he has to sit and eat for an hour." The priest glared at him and Yeykl sighed again. "I mean," he cleared his voice and spoke in a high and mighty tone, "Fool! The 6th hour of the morning has come! It is now, that I must stop whatever I am doing and consume sustenance until the 6th hour has passed, by decree of the Great Clock!"

Rissa groaned in frustration. "So we have to wait an hour for 'his holiness' to eat his breaky before we can continue!"

"Simply put… Yes."

"Does it have to be in the **middle** of the road?'

"_Es muss die genaue Stelle sein, wenn ich in der 6. Stunde kommt!" _

"It must be the exact spot I am in when the 6th hour comes!" Rissa groaned again and began to pace, muttering to herself. Kakashi thoughtfully studied the stationary priest. _He obviously understands us just fine, but either refuses to, or can't, speak any other language._

"Anything else we should know about?" he asked Yeykl. "If he is going to do this every hour I need to know."

Yeykl blushed, "Sorry, I should have told you sooner. It's just…" Kakashi raised and eyebrow and Yeykl stopped his excuse, realizing it would just make his blunder worse. "He does this at 6 am then 12pm and then 6pm. In the evening where he stops is where we are going to have to camp,because he won't travel more than twelve steps until after midnight." Rissa exclaimed in the background at this and Kakashi shook his head and sighed.

"Alright then. You sure that's everything?" Yeykl nodded and Kakashi waved him off. "Right, you go tend to Mr. Argernis." He approached Rissa who was still pacing and muttering in frustration.

"So **this** is why the Hokage said it would take so ling! I can't believe we have to wait so long for his meals, not to mention we have to made camp ridiculously early! Can't we just carry him?"

Kakashi smirked at her comment. "Not unless you want to start something. I don't think he would appreciate that too much."

Rissa grinned, "We could drug him! There's a great herb that grows around here that'll knock a guy out for a good couple of hours. I could mix it in with his food…"

As Rissa schemed, Kakashi studied her. He had been busy with missions and hadn't seen her in a while. She was a Jonin now and her medical abilities had grown exponentially. However, with her higher rank and stronger abilities came a more serious attitude and a calmer disposition. She still had times when she could be totally random and crazy, like now, but she had lost some her spontaneity and most of her naivety. She acted more her age but was definitely not as easy going as she used to be. Kakashi grinned under his mask at the irony of it, _She was the one who was always telling me to lighten up and have some fun, and now she's the one who needs to lighten up sometimes._

The hour passed before Rissa had a chance to implement her 'Drug the Pest Priest Plan' and the group was once again on its way.

When noon rolled around, Kakashi was ready; he found a more secluded place for Lastigen to instigate his strange custom. The hour one again passed uneventfully with Yeykl tending the priest, Kakashi keeping watch, and Rissa looking for her herbs (he was going to have to keep an eye on her, to make sure she didn't actually put her plan into action).

The 6th hour of the evening came faster and not far enough for any one but Lastigen. Yeykl surprised the group by preparing dinner. He was a phenomenal cook and made even the drab camp food taste good. Kakashi was amazed by how thorough the Chunin was with dinner. He had even prepared tea. As Kakashi picked up his cup, he spilled a little onto the ground and thought he saw the spill glow a very faint purple. He quickly looked again but saw nothing unusual. Kakashi rubbed his eye, Rissa was an accomplished medical nin and Yeykl had made the tea. Both were guzzling the delicious brew down and would have shown some sign if something was wrong with it. He shook his head and drank the tea, _I'm just being paranoid, there's no one around but my team, nothing is wrong._

The next few days were without incident, characterised only by, the annoying walking, stopping, waiting, walking custom of the priest, Rissa's new, and almost disturbing habit, of gathering herbs, both medicinal and poisonous, and Yeykl's magnificent camp food in the evenings.

By the fourth peaceful day Kakashi was starting to get apprehensive. They were more than halfway to their destination and despite the prediction that this was going to be a dangerous mission, the most danger they had encountered was when Lastigen had sat on a bee's nest. Needless to say that hour had only five minutes.

The path the ninja and their charge travelled upon forked up ahead. To the right, the path led into a dense forest and down into a ravine. To the left, the path was more worn and in the open. It lay along the top of the ravine and one would be able to see someone coming from a long way off. Kakashi began to lead his team to the left, down the less ambushable path, but an outburst from Mr. Argernis halted his progress.

"What is it now? We just stopped for your lunch so what do you want?"

"_Ungebildeten ein! Um für mich zu dem Tempel, wo diese Dokumente geliefert werden müssen, um zugelassen zu werden, muß ich durch den Wald von Ending Timet verstreichen, die Brücke nach der verlorenen Zeit und geben Sie durch das Tor von Stunden."_

"Uneducated one! In order for me to be admitted to the temple where these documents must be delivered, I must pass through the Forest of Ending Time, cross the Bridge of Lost Time and enter through the Gate of Hours."

"Forest of Ending Time? That doesn't sound good." Rissa muttered under her breath.

Kakashi frowned, she was right that didn't sound good. "Going that way is just asking to be attacked. What is highest priority to me is the safety of you and my team I don't care about some silly custom!"

Lastigen glared at Kakashi "_Ich würde nicht erwarten eine Inzucht-Welpe, wie sich die alten Bräuche, dass dieses Land durchdrungen ist zu verstehen__! __Was die Gefahr, was ein Junge zum Mann kaum wissen würden Gefahr? __Bis jetzt haben wir nicht angegriffen worden sind, so gibt es keinen logischen Grund, anzunehmen, dass wir auf Bösewichte wird im Wald von Ending Time eingestellt warden! Der einzige Grund, den ich zusammen mit einem so jung wie du im Amt war gegangen, weil Ihr Hokage versicherte mir, dass er einige seiner besten Ninja haben mich begleiten_! _Wenn Sie sind in der Tat das beste, dann sollten Sie in der Lage, Dokumente zu schützen und ich in dem unwahrscheinlichen Fall eines Angriffs__! __Nun, willst du mich zu meinem Bestimmungsort begleiten oder bin ich zu haben, um mehr bereit Protektoren aus einem anderen Dorf zu finden?" _

"I would not expect an inbred whelp such as you to understand the ancient customs that this land is steeped in! As for the danger, what would a boy barely into manhood know of danger? As of yet we have not been attacked so there is no logical reason to assume that we will be set upon by villains in the Forest of Ending Time! The only reason I have gone along with one so young as you in charge is because your Hokage assured me that he would have some of his best ninja accompany me! If you are indeed the best then you should be able to protect the documents and I, in the unlikely event of an attack! Now, are you going to accompany me to my destination or am I going to have to find more willing protectors from a different village?"

Kakashi gritted his teeth in anger. "Careful, Kakashi." Rissa whispered. He frowned some more, _I have a responsibility to keep my team safe and one to complete the mission. If we don't go that way then he'll call the mission off. Sure we haven't been attacked yet, but…_

Kakashi stared at the time priest, his eye steely, "Fine, we will go that way, but no stopping until I say so. If you insist on continuing your 6th hour custom through this stretch you will be carried if that means keeping us moving, understand?"

Lastigen Argernis looked dissatisfied with the compromise but nodded his consent anyways. With that settled, Kakashi studied the edge of the foreboding forest, and led the group down the dark trail.

A ways in, Rissa walked even with Kakashi and asked him in a hushed voice, "What was that about? You're cautious but not paranoid. That seemed to be bordering on paranoia to me."

Kakashi glanced at her then continued to scrutinize their surroundings. "Something doesn't feel right, but I'm not sure what. This is supposed to be a B rank mission but it is looking more like a C rank. I have _never_ been on a mission that was easier than it was ranked, so why should it start now?"

"There's a first time for everything."

"Sure, but it doesn't feel that way to me. Be sure to cover the rear and stay alert." Rissa, sensing Kakashi's seriousness, nodded and fell back to the end of the short line they had formed.

Evening came and they travelled in tense, alert silence. Lastigen didn't even complain when the 6th hour came and went, even he had picked up on the ninja's unease and wisely practiced the art of silence.

Kakashi rounded a sharp corner in the path and froze. There in the shadow of a large tree was the figure of a man. He was the first stranger they had seen on their journey and Kakashi had a feeling he wasn't friendly. The figure grasped a staff that had been resting against the tree and stepped out into the path. He was an older man with long, white, frizzy hair streaked with purple. He was dressed as some kind of monk, but in all different shades or purple and his robe bore the copper coloured symbol of a trident on the front. He was barefooted and the only weapon he seemed to hold was his staff that was capped with copper on both ends.

Kakashi tensed at the man's movement and motioned for Yeykl and Rissa to get into a protective formation around the priest who craned his neck to see what the hold up was.

Seeing the strangely dressed monk standing in the middle of the trail he called out, "_Nicht behindern unsere Fortschritte! __Ich bin Lastigen Argernis auf einer Suche nach dem heiligen Tempel der großen Uhr, und dies sind meine ninja Protektoren! __Sie wären gut beraten, uns durchlassen!" _ Yeykl didn't translate the priest's tirade and Kakashi was glad that the man had more sense than that. With any luck the old monk before them wouldn't understand the strange dialect. However, Lady Luck wasn't feeling very generous at that moment.

"So you're the arrogant ticker who has the documents. It would be wise for you to hand them over to me. No matter how many ninja you have protecting you the result will be the same… Those documents will come to my possession with or without your consent!" He closed his eyes and began to chant. Kakashi took that opportunity and attacked the new enemy. However, just before he struck, the purple monk opened his eyes, which were now glowing an eerie purple, and stared directly into Kakashi's grey one. He blocked Kakashi's attack and said in a hollow, creepy voice, "Very interesting, you will be easy for this holy one to defeat because of that." A wave of bloodlust that was almost tangible rolled off of the trident monk and Kakashi was momentarily stunned by the intensity. He managed to block the copper tipped staff swinging at his head, and fell back to the rest of his team.

_That was surprising. I didn't expect him to change like that. That voice, that bloodlust. This old man is dangerous._ Kakashi glanced at Lastigen, he was pale and shaking. That wave of maliciousness had almost brought him to his knees and he trembled with fright.

"Yeykl! You take Mr. Argernis and head for the temple. Rissa and I will hold off this nut job." Yeykl nodded and hurriedly led the shaken priest off the path and into the forest.

The purple enemy let them go, his glowing eyes fixed upon Kakashi. "Do not worry; This holy one will not defeat them until my most holy self has defeated you and your pathetic sidekick." His hollow voice echoed off the nearby trees and slithered into the two remaining ninja's ears. Rissa shuddered slightly but took up a ready stance. Kakashi mimicked her and at a subtle signal from him they leapt to either side of the monk, throwing kunai at him. Before the weapons reached their target however, the monk disappeared in a flash of purple. The ninja landed and sank into the forest, searching for their prey with all their senses.

Kakashi strained to feel anything that would alert him to his enemy's position but there was nothing. All he could see was rank upon rank of dark trees. All he could hear was the quiet breathing of Rissa and himself. All he could smell was the rotting windfall and the dusky sent of twilight. All he could taste was the musty air of the old forest. By all accounts he and Rissa were the only living things in the dingy woods.

The shadows lengthened as the sun went down and finally the first sign of the enemy appeared as a purple ray of something streaked over their heads, singing the trees as it passed. Suddenly the air was full of noise as energy flew through the air, crackling from all different directions. Chaos reigned as Kakashi and Rissa tried to avoid and predict the seemingly random attacks.

"What the heck was that?" Kakashi yelled over to Rissa.

"An attack, duh!" She yelled back from some hidden cover she had found, she studied the glowing projectile as it passed and the effect it had when it impacted a nearby tree. Kakashi noticed that she had time to study the strange attack because he seemed to be the only target here. He dived for a new hiding place as another pulse of raw energy blew the tree that he was using as cover into splinters. He turned to survey his surroundings, searching for options. There was a river that ran through this area that could prove useful but…

"You cannot hide from your righteous punishment!" the hollow voice exclaimed, as yet another pulse skimmed past Kakashi's safety. He was force to think on the fly as he resumed his, as of yet, only strategy of vaulting from place to place. _Come on, think, think! The attacks seem to give off a purplish radiance, so what is he using? He also seems to know where we are even though we haven't seen any sign of him except for these annoying attacks. _As he jumped into the trees to escape another pulse, he spotted Rissa out of the corner of his eye. She seemed relatively unharmed and had found some good cover behind a fallen log. She turned towards Kakashi and motioned for him to 'get over here, like right now', he rushed to join her.

"So, any ideas?" Kakashi asked when he got there.

"Actually, yes. I think he is using a form of energy store to produce his attacks."

"Do you know where he is?"

"Once again, yes. He seems to be appearing where his attacks dissipate. So if we locate that last one's dissipation point we should find him."

"Give yourself over to my holy self and this holy one will send you to the uppermost level of hell." The purple monk announced from his hidden position.

"Seriously, we gotta finish him off soon." Rissa said. Kakashi was surprised, it was not often that Rissa was the one to suggest killing, so to hear her say that seemed weird.

"Right," Kakashi agreed, "hopefully Yeykl has managed to escort the priest and his documents to safety by now… DUCK!" A pulse streaked just above their heads and Kakashi noticed that Rissa was visibly frightened. _No surprise really. This is probably the most uneven odds she has come against. She usually prefers to stay back and provide medical support, then be upfront in the heat of combat. Not that she isn't capable of combat, being a medical ninja she's got amazing control of her chakra and also has a pretty impressive store of jutsu. In fact- _Kakashi fiercely cut off his wandering thoughts, he had to focus.

"Ah ha! This holy one has found you, my jumpy devils!" Kakashi turned to see the old trident monk standing 50 feet behind them. _ How did he find us and get behind us so quickly? There's no way he could have seen us!_ Suddenly the monk began to glow a bright purple colour. _Crap! That looks like a big one!_ He shoved Rissa out of the way and then jumped to safety, just as the energy rushed onto the area he had occupied a split second before. _A type of energy store eh? Sounds like jutsu to me. That chanting must have been like hand signs to concentrate the chakra. And if it's jutsu then I can see through it._ Kakashi reached up and uncovered his Sharingan. He focused on the purple man and opened his eye.

The enemy's figure appeared in his Sharingan's line of sight and Kakashi was pleased to see that his theory of the monk using a form of jutsu had been correct. Kakashi could see the monk's chakra moving through his body and being formed into purple energy. To his eye the monk's whole body glowed a dark, almost evil, purple. Suddenly Kakashi caught sight of his own hands, they to glowed purple, though brighter, more like a beacon. His eyes widened and he cursed, _So that's how he's been able to find us, more like me. Somehow I'm a kind of beacon to this maniac! He can see me anywhere! _

The monk suddenly appeared in front of Kakashi and he laughed at the younger man's shocked face. "You didn't know that you had been turned into a beacon for the Holy Cleansing Light? Someone must have slipped you the potion when you didn't expect it." He laughed again; the hollow tones rang through the forest and seemed to shake the trees. Kakashi shook off his shock and sliced at the off guard monk with a kunai. The blade sliced through the air and it seemed that the fight was going to be over, but the blade suddenly stopped just centimetres from the monk's neck. Shocked, the monk jumped back and stood on guard. There was no need for him to be though.

Kakashi swung at the monk with his blade and knew that it was going to connect. For all his boasting the old man really wasn't that great, not against the Sharingan. Just before his kunai sliced open the old man's neck Kakashi felt his body stiffen in shock. His hand trembled and he didn't even notice the purple man jump back to safety. Something… was wrong. A spike of pain coursed through his body and Kakashi fell to his knees. His head felt like it was splitting open. He hadn't had headaches like this since he first got his Sharingan. Kakashi pulled his headband back over the eye and pressed his hand against it but the pain did not lessen. Instead it grew worse as the monk, somehow seeing a way to turn this more to his advantage, made some hand signs and then grinned sadistically. Kakashi suddenly felt his chakra slowly being drained by an outside force. With less chakra to combat the pain, it grew worse and Kakashi let out a pained cry.

Rissa had heard the monk confront Kakashi and his surprised outburst at his near death experience and had ran to help. However, at the sound of his suffering cry she began to frantically search for her leader's position. Then she saw him, he was on his knees, hunched over. One arm grasping at his left eye and the other shakily holding his body off the ground.

"Kakashi!" Rissa cried out. He moaned in reply but didn't make a move to get up. The purple monk laughed and Rissa quickly diverted her attention to him. He slowly appeared to be getting younger and Rissa then grasped what the fiend was doing. She drew her special kunai, and fluidly attacked the distracted monk.

Not expecting an attack from an entity he considered 'pathetic' the monk barely avoided Rissa's swift attack, but his concentration was broken and he ceased drawing out Kakashi's chakra. The purple enemy turned toward his attacker and fired a pulse of energy, only to discover that she was no longer there. Rissa descended upon him from where she had jumped and landed inside his guard. She then proceeded to cut the tendons and muscles that allowed him to control his arms. She moved from one slice to the next in a smooth precise manner. To the now defenceless enemy, she moved like water… or blood. Rissa finished her last cut and gracefully leapt back to stand by the still suffering Kakashi. Her weapons were now put away and the only sign that she had drawn them was the light spattering of blood upon her hands. The monk stared at his useless arms and laughed at the girl who stood before him.

"You think this can stop my most holy self? You are sadly mistaken I-"His voice cracked and the creepy hollowness drained out of it. The monk coughed and struggled to breath. He looked a Rissa confusingly, none of the wounds she had inflicted upon him were fatal. How-?

Rissa coldly appraised her victim. "Yes I do think that can stop you. Those kunai were coated in a special poison of my own creation. It works quickly, but not immediately. I sliced up your arms so you could not attack while the poison finished you off." Rissa's voice was like steel as she announced the monk's fate. The last thing the old man saw was the ice stare of his victorious opponent.

The monk fell, dead before he hit the ground, and Rissa worriedly turned toward Kakashi and began to examine him. Kakashi had heard the whole battle and had seen glimpses of it through pain blurred vision. Now that the instigator of the jutsu was dead, Kakashi's pain began to gradually lessen and he managed to sit up. Rissa scolded him to keep still and continued with her worried examination.

Kakashi grinned, "So the little doctor has a mean streak. That was a pretty nice attack, you've obviously been practicing."

Rissa huffed, "What? Did you think I became a Jonin just because of my pretty face? I've got skill to you know! Now how do you feel?"

"Fine." Kakashi said as he shakily stood with the help of a nearby tree. "I've never felt better."

"Liar!" Rissa smacked the back of his head and Kakashi winced. "You've got a killer headache and you can barely stand. What's the deal? You haven't had those since you were little."

Kakashi looked at her unimpressed, "I wasn't little, I was young, and somehow I ingested some kind of potion, that's what he called it anyway, that allowed him to do some sort of locator or homing jutsu on me. Using my Sharingan caused some kind of adverse reaction to the combination and it felt like my body was rejecting the eye. Very unpleasant."

Rissa had a pained expression on her face. "Unpleasant is a mild word for it! Rejection of long implanted body parts is pretty much the equivalent of it getting ripped out! I doubt you will be able to use your eye for a while. In fact, you shouldn't until I've had a chance to look at it. I need to make sure that everything is alright."

Kakashi sighed, "Yes doctor Rissa. Now can we get a move on? We need to make sure that Yeykl and Lastigen made it to the temple alright." He took few steps toward the path but his still weak legs gave out and he would have fell if Rissa hadn't caught him. She helped him up and supported him as they slowly made their way back to the path.

"You really need to take it easy. You don't want me to have to carry you do you?" Rissa scolded. Kakashi blushed, embarrassed at the thought of the smaller girl carrying him bridal style, and allowed her to help him walk.

By the time they reached the path Kakashi could walk on his own, albeit slowly, and the duo began to make their way toward the direction that Yeykl and the priest had gone. However, before they had made it ten steps, a group of cloaked figures surrounded them. Kakashi and Rissa tensed at the sudden appearance of the people and wondered if they were friend, or foe.

I am SOOO sorry for how long it took me to get this chapter out! I have been plagued with writer's block, work, broken computers and just life in general and have really had a hard time motivating myself to get this going.

A big thank you goes out to my awesome cousin who wrote the little prelude part ( I just tweaked it a little to make it fit better) It really inspired me on how to get this chapter going and smashed through a lot of blocks! So THANK YOU! XD

The German is copied and pasted from Google Translator so I am dreadfully sorry if the language is butchered in a horrible and unrecognizable way!

Anyway, I told you there was going to be action XD I really liked writing this chapter and I have to tell you it actually gets better! (well hopefully it will if I can write it goodly)

This is the longest chapter I've written so I hope it will make up a little bit for it taking me such a long time to get this out.

Thanks for still reading it and please let me know what you think! XD


	6. Betrayed

_Before they had made it ten steps, a group of cloaked figures surrounded them. Kakashi and Rissa tensed at the sudden appearance of the people and wondered if they were friend or foe._

The two Konoha ninja tensed at the appearance of the cloaked figures surrounding them and immediately prepared for a fight. One of the figures stepped forward and addressed the wary ninja.

"Gruß, we are warriors from the Temple of the Great Clock." He took a medallion from his cloak and held it out to be examined. It was embossed with a stylized clock face and had hands marking 12 and 6. On the back was written in fancy script: Tempel der großen Uhr.

The figure continued, "We became aware of the battle and immediately rushed to be of assistance. However, since you are obviously still alive, I take it you defeated your enemy. We will gladly escort you the rest of the way to the temple, but first we must ensure that Sir Lastigen is safe. Where is he?"

Kakashi silently studied the medallion; it looked authentic, and had enough weight to be the gold it looked. He examined the man it belonged to. The cloak covered most of his body, but the visible arms and neck were thick with muscle. He was no stranger to combat either, as the scars on both his arms and face told. Kakashi's gaze drifted over the figures. There were 12 of them in all, and each one held out similar medallions.

Everything seemed to be in order, but Kakashi could feel a malicious gaze upon him. He surveyed the group again but could not pinpoint where this feeling was coming from. _Maybe it was just my imagination. Everything's legit so far, the medallions and the Clock warriors were mentioned in the briefing._

"All right," Kakashi finally conceded, "I sent Lastigen Argernis and Yeykl on towards the temple when we were attacked. The headed through the forest, and knowing Lastigen… They couldn't have gotten far."

Rissa smirked, "That's so true."

The leader gave the two ninja a confused look. "Lord Argernis is one of our most capable priests. His only flaw is perhaps the lack of respect he gives those younger than him. Let us hurry to retrieve him. The documents he carries are of great importance to the Temple of the Great Clock."

Kakashi nodded and led the way through the underbrush, with Rissa not far behind making worried noises every time he stumbled a little over a fallen log or exposed root.

"You need to be more careful!" She whispered, "I still need to make sure that –"

"I'm fine, Rissa." Kakashi interrupted, "You will have all the time you want to check me out **after** the mission." He caught Rissa's slight blush and grinned mischievously, "Not that you **have** been waiting, I've seen those looks."

Rissa turned a colour akin to a tomato and stuttered, "I never- I don't know what-I thought you…"

Kakashi laughed and pushed some branches out of his way. Suddenly he stopped and stared at the ground, confused. He had been easily tracking Yeykl and Lastigen and they had been heading towards the temple, but now… the tracks turned towards the Northeast, the opposite direction of the temple. Both men knew the location of the temple and Yeykl wouldn't make the rookie mistake of getting completely turned around, no matter how thick the forest. Something was up.

Rissa noticed the change in direction immediately, why were they headed **away** from the temple? She glanced back at the temple warriors, they either did not notice the change of direction, or they did not care. They still held that same impassive visage they had bore when she first laid eyes on them. They were very hard to read and hid themselves under those thick cloaks. Rissa didn't quite trust them. Sure they had all the proper identification and had not given her any reason **not** to trust them, but they had shown up a bit too conveniently, right after she and Kakashi had taken care of that creepy monk. Also neither she, nor, she assumed anyways, Kakashi, had sensed their approach. Of course, being warriors did not mean they were ninjas; but still… they were a bit suspicious.

Rissa stopped. Kakashi had halted his advance through the forest and she worried that he might have been more wounded than she initially thought. She silently approached him to see what was up.

Kakashi stopped at the edge of a clearing, _Oh wonderful, this day just keeps getting better and better. _ He felt Rissa come up behind him and answered her question before she asked it. "I'm fine, and no the trail hasn't ended. I wish it was as easy as that."

Rissa rolled her eyes; she hated it when he pulled a genius on her. "Then what is it?"

"A big problem." Kakashi stepped aside a bit so Rissa had a better view.

" Oh man…. Well this sucks." She groaned as she saw the body. Stepping forward, Rissa headed for the body.

"Idiot." Kakashi frowned as she moved forward. "There could be traps." Rissa rolled her eyes and continued to the body. He quickly made a check of the surrounding area, and then joined her. Just because she hadn't set off any traps, didn't' mean there wasn't any.

Rissa crouched by Lastigen's body, examining him. She frowned and shook her head as Kakashi came up behind her. He muttered under his breath and sighed. _This mission just keeps getting better and better. _ "Does he still have the documents?"

The bag that Lastigen carried the documents in was under his body and Rissa began to flip the body over to get it.

"Wait!" Kakashi grabbed her shoulder and she looked up at him, arching an eyebrow. "You said you didn't become a Jonin just because of your pretty face. So, did your pretty face think to look for traps?"

Rissa smirked. "There was," She held up a deactivated explosive tag. "I disarmed it." Kakashi shook his head and let go of her shoulder. Rissa's smirk turned to a grin that immediately slid form her face as she rolled the body over.

There were no wounds on the body in terms of what you would usually find on a body in the aftermath of a battle. No gaping wounds or cuts seeping blood, no broken bones or anything that would indicate a struggle. It was nothing Rissa had ever seen, or expected to see on a corpse.

Lastigen's face drooped and slid to one side. Pieces of maggot filled flesh dropped to the ground and an almost visible stench rolled towards the ninja. Kakashi gagged slightly, even through his mask and Rissa reflexively held her breath.

This wasn't' possible. The old priest couldn't have been dead for more than three hours, but the final stages of decomposition was already set in. This wasn't natural. Rissa's medial curiosity kicked in and she began to examine the body further.

The worst of the decomposition was around the neck and spread out from there like a fungus or disease. Most of his throat was already eaten away, showing the white spine behind it.

"This is very strange." Rissa mused. "I've never seen or even heard of anything like this before. If we had more time then this would definitely warrant further study. My best guess… a new and strange jutsu, or disease."

Kakashi studied the body form where he stood. Most definitely weird, not to mention unnatural, but they really didn't' have time to look into it further. There was just no time.

Rissa slid the bag off the body and checked the contents. "All here."

"Good, after we find Yeykl we'll complete the mission."

"Impossible!" One of the temple warriors protested. "That information is time sensitive now that Lord Argernis is dead. It must be delivered in a timely manner, by you, the protectors entrusted with it." Kakashi frowned and was about to say something when they interrupted him. "If it is not, then the temple may have to withdraw it's support from Konoha and find a different ninja village to be allied with. Iwa perhaps."

Glaring, Kakashi paused to think, he hated the lack of control he was turning out to have over this mission and it's decisions. "Fine. Rissa, you go deliver the documents. You," he picked out half or the temple warriors. "Go with her. The rest of you come with me to find Yeykl."

Rissa nodded and slung the bag over her shoulder taking off through the trees with half the temple warriors following her. Surveying the rest of the group, Kakashi assigned them places and explained what was going to happen, he then turned back to the clearing. Noting the small fresh trail that led from the clearing, Kakashi motioned to his group and began to follow it carefully.

…

Rissa tore through the trees towards the Temple of the Great Clock. She could hear the others behind her, crashing thr0ugh the trees and underbrush. Rolling her eyes at their rooky actions, she pushed on. Rissa wanted to get the papers delivered. She knew Kakashi hated splitting up the team like this and wanted to get back and help. The walls of the temple came into view and Rissa breathed a sigh of relief. Hollering up at the guards, she was ushered in and the process of the delivery was started.

After what felt like hours of procedure and ceremony, but in reality was only a couple of minutes, the papers were finally delivered. As Rissa left, she called back her thanks for sending the temple warriors.

The priests looked confused, "We did not send them. It appears you have been deceived."

Rissa's eyes widened and she rushed off without another word. Searching the forest for the alleged temple warriors, Rissa cursed her rookie mistake. She had been so intent on delivering the documents she hadn't noticed them slip away. They hadn't been after the document, as made evident by the safe delivery, and they had left her alone. That left one option. Kakashi. A cold sweat broke out on her forehead as she ran, hoping she wasn't too late for her leader, her friend.

…

Kakashi stopped at the opening of a small ravine. There, at the bottom he could see Yeykl's body. Casting a glance over his shoulder at the temple warriors, he frowned. _Their appearance was too convenient, I don't' trust them_. The terrain was perfect for an ambush, and the bait was good too_. _It was against Kakashi's better judgement, but he would not leave a teammate.

"Stay here. I'll scout it out." He ordered the temple warriors without looking back. Jumping down, Kakashi tread softly towards Yeykl. _They'll wait until I'm there, or almost there, spread out around the rim of the ravine and then attack._ He reached his fallen comrade. _ Now!_ With a flurry of movement and the sharp ring of steel on steel, Kakashi spun, deflecting the predicted storm of projectiles away from him and his teammate.

Kakashi smirked a bit as the last weapon fell to the ground, and then studied the number of warriors, frowning a bit. The other half that he had sent with Rissa had returned. The cold chill of worry ran up his spine, but he dismissed it after a moment. _ Rissa's a good ninja. The fact that they're all here means they slipped away with out her knowing. _ He smirked. _ I'm going to have to bug her about that._

Readying his kunai and the meagre amount of chakra he had left, Kakashi spoke. "Who are you really and what do you want?" He demanded. They just laughed, as if sharing an inside joke, and Kakashi searched his mind for something he might have missed to make them this confident. Sure they had numbers, but that didn't really mean much against the Copy Ninja, even a weakened. A soft sound behind him was the only warning he got.

_Ah, that was it._ Twisting his body, Kakashi avoided a crippling blow to the spine, the Konoha kunai instead slicing a deep rent into his side. Blood dripped form between his fingers in a soft rain of crimson as Kakashi distanced himself from the traitor.

"Weren't expecting that, were you genius?" Yeykl laughed as he spun the body kunai in his hand. Eyes tracking the drops of his blood that flew from the knife in a lazy arc, Kakashi sighed, schooling his expression. "I spent years preparing for this role," Yeykl gloated, "but considering how easy it was to fool you I think I could have cut that time in half. Now, as for what we want." He grinned slyly. "We want you.

"Oh, don't think this is some kind of clumsy assassination attempt. Our orders are to take you alive. If I had wanted to kill you, I would have done it when I spiked your tea to give out dear purple friend a hand. I knew he wouldn't succeed in capturing you on his own, but you were too much of a threat with a full chakra reserve. Seeing you now however, I'm pretty sure I could have taken you at full strength. Better safe than sorry though." Yeykl looked at Kakashi impatiently. "What? Not surprised? No witty comeback? You really have nothing to say?"

Kakashi rolled his eye, ignoring the barbs aimed at his intelligence and capabilities. "If you'd shut up, then I could get a word in. Who is your accomplice in Konoha?"

Surprise flashed through Yeykl's eyes. "A-accomplice? I… there's no. I don't have one!"

"Don't lie to me." Kakashi looked at Yeykl with a hard stare. "Someone as incompetent and slow as you couldn't have infiltrated the village to this extent with out an accomplice on the inside. Even a pre genin would have been able to pick you out as an intruder. Come on, you confessed everything else. Tell me." The surprise in Yeykl's eyes turned to rage and, with a loud yell, he threw the kunai he still held at Kakashi. It flew through the air in a blur of shiny metal and sank deep into Kakashi's chest.

Suddenly, Kakashi disappeared into a poof of smoke. Yeykl's look of anger, melted into one of disbelief and he nearly wet himself when he felt the cold edge of a kunai against his throat.

"You shouldn't have done that. Tell me who you are working with and I'll make this painless." A cold voice said from behind him. Face pale with fear, Yeykl looked up at the temple warriors surrounding the ridge and nodded. They sprang into action and Kakashi was forced to jump back form Yeykl as a rain of shuriken and jutsu assailed his previous position. Frowning, he leapt to a safer place and readied himself. His side ached. Yeykl had indeed managed to nick him. Rissa would say it was a gaping, gushing wound, but it wasn't that bad… probably. The fake temple warriors came at him and he was forced to defend himself against the twelve assailants.

As the battle progressed, it was evident that Kakashi was not gaining any kind of advantage. Any warrior, or ninja as he saw now, that he wounded, fell back and then was back soon after. _Must have a medical ninja._ His eyes searched the battle ground in between attacks and he saw Yeykl healing a ninja Kakashi had just stabbed in the stomach. His eye narrowed and he smirked a bit. Feinting an attack, he slipped behind a tree as the ninja retreated and quickly made a shadow clone. As it sucked on his small amount of chakra, Kakashi panted._ Can't do more of those._ He sent the clone back into the fray, hoping it would last long enough to get him the time he needed, then slipped towards the distracted Yeykl.

Nearing the traitor ninja, Kakashi raised his kunai for a deadly blow. The knife slashed down with a flash and was about to dispose of the problem, when Kakashi was suddenly and violently jerked backwards. He froze in surprise for a moment then shook it off and got his feet under him, skidding to a stop. Looking around for who was responsible, Kakashi was surprised again, and not in the birthday party way. A long, thick strand of an opaque substance was attached to the back of his vest and led back to… _ Him._

Quickly stripping off his vest, Kakashi spun to face the threat. "How unfortunate that you didn't die."

The ninja threw off his cloak, anonymity pointless now. Sickly green eyes laughed at Kakashi and the spider like ninja smirked. "When they told me the target was you, I couldn't resist." He motioned to his thin left arm, hanging nearly useless by his side. "Little brats need to be punished for disrespecting their elders."

"Looks like an improvement to me." Kakashi muttered, but stayed wary. _ If he survived this long with that arm, he must have gotten better. But so have I. If only I could use my Sharringan then- _ he cut off that line of thought quickly. _ You're a good ninja without the eye. Don't rely so much on it._ The creepy guy's left fingers twitched and sticky threads shot towards Kakashi. He dodged, noting the threads weaving a tight web in between the trees it passed by. "Still never got over your stupid sticky threads I see."

"They're webs!" The spider like ninja cried in frustration and anger and shot another barrage at Kakashi, which he dodged. He smirked, _It still gets to him. But this is bad. Those webs are a problem. _ Looking around where they were impacting, he cursed under his breath. _They're cutting off any escape routes. Planning on wearing me down and then grabbing me when I'm defenseless. This is really bad._ Kakashi darted for any openings, but the webs always got there before he could, quickly dwindling his escape options. Mind racing, Kakashi surveyed the drastically changed battleground. Webs and random sticky threads hung from the trees everywhere with no gaps big enough for him to slip through. Swallowing dryly, he glanced around at his assailants. _Too many to take out and then figure out how to get out._ He sighed and began his choice. _If I'm wrong or take to long, I'm screwed._

Kakashi threw everything he had at the nearest web. Kunai and shuriken bounced of or just stuck so he switched to Jutsu, fire was absorbed, and electricity was grounded. Jumping to the ground, he prepared an earth Jutsu when his sharp ears picked the sound of an explosive tag being activated, an explosive tag with a very short fuse. Eyes shooting to his feet, he grunted in surprise and jumped backward just in time. It exploded as he was in the air and the force flung him backwards. HE tried to twist in the air, to change his trajectory but it was too late. Kakashi's stomach sank to his toes as he felt his body come to a stop against a springy object. _ At least it didn't' hurt._ The glum thought floated through his brain, even as he began to struggle in the web he had been blasted into. It was useless, he knew, but there had to be a slim chance. There was no way he was going to just let them take him.

The sticky webs stuck to his hair and pulled as Kakashi turned his head. He winced and tried to pull it free but it wouldn't come. The fake temple warriors were coming closer, cautiously, they weren't' sure if he was finally subdued yet, and Kakashi felt a seed of fear bloom in his stomach. "No way!" He cried and tried to slice at the webs with the kunai he still had in his hand. They just stretched. Kakashi was stuck, and he knew it. He couldn't' bring his hands together for hand signs, he couldn't kick out his legs to get at least on of them in the face, all he could do was hang there like a fly and wait to be made into supper.

Yeykl stepped forward and smirked. "I knew we would get you eventually. There's no way you could have escaped us. I'm just too good."

Rolling his eyes, Kakashi spat on the traitor's vest. "If you know anything about me, then you know that you can't keep me forever." He muttered, words slurring softly with exhaustion. _That's right, these stupid sticky threads have a sedative._ The sharp pain from a jerk of his head to pull his hair chased the feeling away for a moment, but he knew it was only a mater of time.

"We should wait for him to fall asleep." One of the ninja said. "Then we can go without trouble." Many agreed with him and it looked like they were going to wait around until another cocked his head.

"Don't think we have time for that, the girl's coming. We should go before she causes trouble."

Grey eye glinting with hope, Kakashi smirked under his mask. _I'll just cause enough trouble to stall them and then Rissa can give me a hand. _Spider ninja man began to unfasten the webs form the trees and ass soon as he had some wiggle room, Kakashi began to squirm and thrash. The other ninja cried out in surprise and annoyance as some of the flailing ends of the web caught them. Their thrashing and attempts to free themselves from the sticky threads only added to the confusion Kakashi was making and he tried to form hand signs. He got about half way through, when his hands were covered in a thick layer of the sticky goop. Glancing up, Kakashi glared at the creepy spider guy who just smirked and ruffled Kakashi's hair.

"Can't have you doing that."

"Go die in a hole." Kakashi muttered as the sticky threads man securely wrapped the rest of the web around him, effectively making any movement very difficult. Sighing, Kakashi watched as the sticky man freed the others from the web. _Well, that worked great. I'm practically home free._ He cursed his situation. Once they were all ready to go, sticky threads hoisted him over one shoulder and they took off. The last thing Kakashi saw before the heavy blanket of sleep covered him was the distant sight of a frantic Rissa trying to find a way around the maze of webs.

* * *

So, sorry to anyone who has been reading this. Long updates, I know, forgive me. But I'm back now, and more motivated than ever. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was fun to write.

So, as ever, please read and review, it is greatly appreciated!


	7. Report

_**The last thing Kakashi saw before the heavy blanket of sleep covered him was the distant sight of a frantic Rissa trying to find a way around the maze of webs.**_

* * *

Kakashi coughed as the large ninja carrying him landed hard on a branch and drove his shoulder into Kakashi's stomach. The latter of which rebelled and whatever the silver haired ninja had eaten last, exited by the way it had entered. He groaned and his face took on a look of extreme discomfort. Throwing up in one's mask was not pleasant. At all.

Squirming, Kakashi tried to loosen the webs he was wrapped in, or the grip his current transporter. It didn't work, and all he got was more bruising to his already bruised abdomen. He sagged a bit, still exhausted. The recent fight had pretty much drained him of his leftover chakra and the sedative in Sticky Thread's sticky threads, though beginning to wear off, was still making his eyelids heavy, not to mention the fierce pain his Sharingan kept shooting through his head. They had passed him around as they traveled, so Kakashi hoped they would stop soon to rest or to change the way he was bound. _It's not like this stuff can last forever, it dissolved last time after a while and with the sedative wearing off they can't really chance me becoming too alert._ So, all Kakashi really needed to do was wait and store up what chakra he could. The wound in his side might be a problem if it began to bleed again, but the webs that cocooned him seemed to have done a good job of stemming the blood flow. Soon he'd show this group of cowards what it meant to mess with the Copy Ninja.

Rissa tore through the forest, breathing hard but pace not slackening. She couldn't follow Kakashi and his captors, the annoying webs and numerous traps they had left in their wake prevented her of being any help, but she cold get back to the village quickly and report what had happened. All in all, the mission had been a complete and total disaster. The man they were supposed to protect was dead, and by the hand of one of their own. Kakashi had been captured, also initiated by the traitor, and she hadn't been able to follow. The only thing that had gone slightly right was the delivery of the documents, though it was a small success that was overshadowed by the failures.

Once again, Rissa ran through the course of the last few days, searching for any sign she'd missed that Yeykl was a traitor. She couldn't find anything. But there must have been something! There must have been some way she could have prevented all this from happening! Yes she was "just a healer" but she was a ninja, damn it! She had been trained to be on the look out for this kind of thing. It was part of the life. Moles, informants, spying, move and countermove; planning for everything to go right and then planning for everything to go wrong. Rissa sighed and shook her head, no use on focusing on what had gone wrong and how she'd messed up, Kakashi hadn't' even noticed anything and he was one of the best. The thought did little to comfort her. He was one of the best and he had been captured on a routine escort mission. Brilliant. Wouldn't this be a shining example of Konoha ninja prowess?

Rolling her eyes, Rissa pushed the distracting and depressing thoughts to the back of her mind and pressed on. She'd be able to get to the village on time to get help. No way Kakashi would make things easy on his captors, so they wouldn't be able to move as fast as they wanted.

Cresting a ridge, the village of Konohagakure came into view. Sighing in relief, Rissa put on a final burst of speed and reached the gate. Coming to a stop, she leaned on her knees, panting heavily. The guards looked at her in surprise and approached her cautiously, wary of a possible trap. Understanding that it was their job to be cautious, Rissa tried to stamp down the impatience that blossomed in her.  
"I need to… see the Hokage right… away." She panted. "Kakashi's… been captured."

About fifteen minutes and almost as many explanations later, Rissa stood in the Hokage's office drinking water. She tapped her foot impatiently as he discussed the situation with some other Jounin and an ANBU; she wanted to get back out there now. Kakashi was getting farther and farther away and she had to go find him. The waiting had given her time to rest, but with that, time to think. Guilt twisted her stomach and she tried to push it away. She couldn't have done anything different, and form the looks of the heated discussion going on, there was no way she could have known that Yeykl was a traitor. People smarter and higher up than she hadn't even expected it, how could she have known?

Finally the meeting wrapped up and the Hokage turned back to Rissa. "Thank you for your good work." He said. "I've sent a rescue team after Kakashi and his captors."  
Rissa opened her mouth to protest being left behind but a look from the pipe smoking man quieted her. "I know you want to go as well, but you must accept that your talents are not suited to a tracking mission." Rissa's face fell and she nodded.

"Yes, Hokage."

"That being said," He continued, smiling a little, "Give me some time to get a suitable team together and you and they can join the pursuit as a backup team. I imagine Kakashi will need a healer when we retrieve him and having you close by will be a great advantage."

Rissa's expression flitted from disappointment to surprise then a flash of excitement before finally settling on an eager readiness. "Yes Hokage. Thank you!" He smiled and nodded, dismissing her to go prepare as he readied a team to get his ninja back.

* * *

I apologize profusely for such a long time you all had to wait for this update to come so as a sorry gift, I'm posting two chapters. This one was more of a filler and a bit pounded out. The next one I really liked writing. Please review if you like and let me know what you guys thought! Thank you so much!


	8. Escape

Stars swam in his vision as Kakashi shook his head to clear it. His captors had finally paused at the edge of a small seaside village and having tossed their captive unceremoniously on the ground, began to don disguises. Trying his bonds again, Kakashi smirked under his vomit-fouled mask as he felt the sticky threads begin to fray and part. _The stuff is good, but fortunately has a short shelf life. Just need a bit of a distraction and I'll be out of here. _Flexing his lean muscles in preparation for the opportune moment, Kakashi waited.

He didn't have to wait too long. The group was just finishing pulling on their disguises, when a pair of young villagers stumbled into the clearing for an early evening tryst. They laughed and giggled, eyes only for each other until the ninja around them surrounded them, weapons ready and moving. The unfortunate lovers fell in each other's arms, blood mingling on the ground. It had been a short lived distraction, but when they turned to check on their captive, all that was left to mark he ever being there was a pile of shredded web.

Kakashi hurried through the forest, stumbling occasionally over roots, he still made good time for a man with barely enough chakra left to keep him vertical. His soiled mask had greatly impaired his sense of smell and Kakashi had stripped it off, using the fabric instead to press against his wounded side to keep from leaving a blood trail. The cool, salt laden breeze from the sea felt good on his now bare face and his genius mind raced coming up with plan after plan. Discarding most for being too out there and not having a high enough success rate, he finally settled on one and put it onto motion.

Finding a small house on the outskirts of the village, Kakashi crept up to it silently. He let his senses drift out, searching for any signs of current inhabitance. Not finding any, he slipped silently into the empty house and began to rummage around. He gathered his supplies into a small bundle and slipped back into the woods. It wouldn't do any good to have the inhabitants of the house come home and find a burglar. _That would just make my day __**that**__ much better. Getting chased out and then caught again by the racket they make. _

A few minutes later, Kakashi strolled into the village looking every bit a lazy, tired young man on lunch. His signature silver hair was tucked under a low brimmed hat and a bandana made a makeshift eye patch to hide his still aching Sharingan. He had hidden his old clothes and belongings well and hoped to retrieve them once this all blew over. Either that or the subsequent search team the Hokage had _probably_ sent after him would find it and bring it back. He had left a note with his things in case of that situation, but his plans didn't hinge on it.

Dressed like a villager with his face bare and hair covered, Kakashi hoped he was inconspicuous enough to find a way home. Picking the odd pocket as he went, He mulled over his situation. _With my chakra so low and with me hiding what's left it should give them a hard enough time to dig me out. There are enough people with some traces of chakra to give them a run around as they look for me, and none of them actually know what I look like without my mask and hair to identify me._ He glanced at a hand and frowned. _At least if they can't see that purple beacon stuff that Yeykl dosed me with. Plus it's not like I'm completely helpless. I've got enough fight in me to give them trouble if they try and grab me again anywhere with witnesses. I've been in tougher spots. _Kakashi smirked to himself and nodded. _I'll be fine._

Having reached his destination, Kakashi entered the store in front of him and set his pilfered money on the counter.

"My uncle had an accident with a hoe and I need some salve and bandages." The pharmacist looked at him casually then stared for a moment and blushed a little.

"O-of course sir." She stuttered and gathered his requested supplies. Kakashi smiled at her as he paid, causing the young woman to blush more then he pocketed his change, took his bag and meandered back down the street until he found a suitable place to bandage his wound. Once finished, he settled at a small, but busy café, bought some food and scoped people out to put into action the rest of his plan.

"I can't believe you lost him!" Yeykl howled in anger at the three men in front of him who he had sent out to track down their missing captive. "He's out of chakra, exhausted and injured for goodness sake! He can't have gone far!"

The ninja being berated did not look happy to have to put up with such criticism from the smaller man and their expressions were rankled. "He is the Copy Ninja. Out of chakra or not, he is still a ninja."

"So are you!" Yeykl snapped. "Find him! We can't go back without him! We leave as dusk and if we don't' have him back by then there will be consequences!"

The group looked annoyed that Captain Obvious was ordering them around but left quickly to search harder for their elusive prey.

Yeykl huffed and watched them go then began to finish his own preparations to track Kakashi. A soft chuckle disturbed him and he looked up to glare at the man who had stayed behind. "Anansi, you should be out looking for Kakashi. Isn't he "your prey" or whatever anyway?"

The man smirked at the younger ninja, but his sickly green eyes were cold and hard. "You don't tell me what to do boy. The only reason I agreed to this mission was because our benefactor told me I would be able to fight the little copycat. You lost him. You find him. Tracking isn't what I do." He giggled and Yeykl barely suppressed a shudder at the crazy that tinted the sound. "The boy will come to me. We are fated to be adversaries so he'll seek me out of course. That's how these things work." Anansi giggled again and settled back against his tree. "I'll wait until they others have found him and then collect him myself. He's my little fly in my web after all."

"Right." Yeykl muttered, deciding not to contradict the more than unstable, powerful man. Turning back to his task, though not turning his back on Anansi, Yeykl put the finishing touches on the concoction he was mixing. Smiling, he held it up to the light and swirled it. Flashes of brilliant purple glinted in the sun and he grinned. It was perfect. The earlier potion hadn't left Kakashi's system yet, and wouldn't for a while. As per it's purpose, it had bound itself to the Copy Nin's chakra system, temporarily dyeing his coils and pathways and making him a beacon to anyone who knew what to look for. The adverse reaction it had to his Sharingan was an unexpected side effect, but a fortunate one.

Setting the potion aside to finish curing, Yeykl started his next project. Anansi's webs were obviously not a satisfactory way to confine Kakashi long term, and they still had a couple days' journey ahead of them. He needed a better way to keep their captive either unconscious or unable to escape and harm them or himself. Preferably both, but Yeykl had never tried this jutsu before and didn't think he would be able to implement both affects with such a short time to prepare. Opting for the latter option, he began to work, hands flashing through signs as he channeled chakra into the objects before him.

Kakashi's nose wrinkled again at the smell that affronted his keen olfactory sense and again wished in vane for his mask. It would be a dead give away to his identity but the stench that rolled off the cart in front of him and the basket on his back was enough to consider it worth the consequences. He had joined the small group of merchants after hearing them discuss their plans to head deeper into the country, even stop at Konoha. After all, even ninja need fresh fish.

Kakashi sniffed the air again and stifled the urge to sneeze like a dog. He didn't need to pick up any of his nin dog's habits, even if the fish were obviously labeled wrong. These fish were fresh all right, but not in the scrumptious way. Without his mask, Kakashi wasn't' sure he could handle a week of traveling with the fish merchants. Not that he could complain though. They'd graciously allowed the young, able-bodied man along their trek to help, and the glances the lead merchant's daughter kept sending him of course had nothing to do with it.

The bushes along the road rustled and Kakashi shot them a hard stare, trying hard to pierce through the gloom. A small brown rabbit poked his head out of the bush and Kakashi released the breath he'd unconsciously been holding. _Traveling in the open like this is dangerous. But it's the last thing they'd expect me to do. I just hope I can lead them away soon enough when I sense them coming._ He thought back to the two lovers who had died unintentionally accommodating his escape. _These people don't need to die for helping a young man out of work._ Coming out of his thoughts, he caught the young woman staring at him again, looking at the serious expression on his face. Wishing, not for the last time for his mask, Kakashi smiled at her, his visible eye curling happily. The girl blushed and smiled back before looking away again. He schooled his features into a pleasant mask and took up vigilantly scanning his surrounding once again.

A few hours away from the seaside village, Kakashi tensed. He had spread his sense out as far as he could and the chakra signature he now felt was familiar, and not in the nice way. It continued to get closer and was soon joined by the rest of the band of merry men. _Great. I didn't' get as far as I wanted but at least it bought me some time to build up some of my chakra._ He pressed the ball of his hand against his left eye, massaging it a little. The responding flare of pain was enough to know it wouldn't be any help, still.

Making sure he wasn't spotted, Kakashi slowly drifted away from the merchant procession. He ditched the fish and faded into the forest, working his way away from the road at an angle to maximize the distance between both groups. His pursuers noticed his change of direction and adjusted theirs accordingly, causing Kakashi to curse. Somehow they were tracking him. Running through his shortlist of options, Kakashi cursed again. The only things he could really do in this situation was fight until he was completely exhausted trying to escape, go willingly, bluff his way out or do some very effective demoralization and escape while they were stunned. He sighed, hating his options but chose the last one; at least then he could take someone down with him. The ninja worked as a team, but they weren't perfectly cohesive and he could use that to his advantage. Feeling more confident now that he'd chosen a plan of action, Kakashi chose the soon to be battle ground, got prepared and waited. This time things would start on his terms.

He didn't have long to wait. Soon after Kakashi settle down to wait, the thirteen ninja pursuing him surrounded the tree he was perched in. They regarded him carefully and Yeykl stepped to the front of the line. Looking directly at Kakashi through the leave obscuring him, Yeykl's eyes glowed slightly with a bright purple colour. Kakashi frowned, but wasn't surprised. _Of course the one who dosed me would be able to track me. He's the one who made the stuff after all._

"You're surrounded Kakashi." Yeykl called up to him. "You have no weapons and no chakra. Just come down and everything will be easier for all of us. You won't be hurt if you cooperate so you have nothing to lose."

"How about you tell me your whole plan first." Kakashi replied flippantly. "Then I decide if I like it and then you leave and I'll go back home and you don't get hurt." He smiled as Yeykl frowned.

"That is not how it works!"

"Yes it is."

"No!"

"Yes."

Yeykl was practically fuming as he stepped into the small clearing stamping his foot. "NO!"

Kakashi could have continued the immature discourse the rest of the evening, but he had the traitor right where he wanted him. With a quick tug of a wire, a tangle of wires shot up in between the trees, subsequently trapping Yeykl in the clearing with Kakashi. The young man gaped at the trap and took a step back as Kakashi jumped down from the tree. His back brushed the wire and a burst of electricity coursed through him, throwing him deeper into the clearing and towards a kunai spinning Kakashi. Looking up in confusion at the still unmasked face, Yeykl blinked.

"But… you have no weapons."

Kakashi stared at him. "You're really that stupid that you need me to explain?" he got no intelligible reply. "It appears so. How you survived this long is beyond me." Crouching in front of the traitor, Kakashi began. "It's called pickpocketing. Simple skill. Any good ninja can do it. It's just a matter of picking targets with large purses and knowing where to get supplies."

"Y-you stole?" Yeykl stuttered. "But you're one of the good guys! You can't steal!"

Kakashi just blinked at him. "What part of ninja don't you understand? I kill people on a regular basis. Stealing isn't so bad."

"Th-the electricity in the wires?"

"Trade secret." Kakashi smirked and looked around. The other twelve had been trying to get past his electrified barrier, though they weren't making much headway. "Enough exposition, you're going to die now." He smiled and swung his blade down on Yeykl.

The kunai skittered off another, blue sparks spitting out at Yeykl blocked the swipe. The man's face was full of anger and determination. He hated being made light of in front of "his" men and Kakashi was going to pay. The benefactor wanted Kakashi in one piece, but that was not going to happen now. The annoying man had to pay.

Yeykl jumped up, swiping a hand at Kakashi, shuriken flew threw the air and were deflected with ease but Yeykl was right behind them, slicing at Kakashi's neck with his kunai. The man dodged with a quick back step and the action caused the stupid floppy hat to fall off right in Yeykl's line of sight. He cut through the hat with a growl and charged at- nothing. Kakashi was gone. A hard kick into his back sent him flying into the wires again and let him know where the Copy Ninja had gone. Shaking off the shock, Yeykl jumped to his feet. He took a few deep breaths, calming himself. He had to be in control if he wanted to win. After he had calmed himself, Yeykl looked up at the smirking, silver haired ninja, and charged again.

This time his movements were controlled and precise. He kicked at a knee and then sliced where Kakashi jumped to dodge then punched at his injured side. Each blow was deflected, though barely. Yeykl could see his prey was still weak and exhausted. Each breath came labored to the young man and sweat ran down his face. He favored the side Yeykl had cut in their last fight and blood stained the rough shirt of his disguise. Soon.

Yeykl attacked again, targeting Kakashi's injuries and making the ninja twist awkwardly to block his attacks. Scoring some cuts on the so-called genius, Yeykl grinned getting caught up in the moment and his bloodlust. One last complicated taijutsu move later and Kakashi was on his back, breathing hard. Yeykl howled in triumph and grabbed the other ninja's bare throat, activating his secret weapon.

Kakashi's eyes widened as the jutsu began its work. He squirmed in pain and screamed as rot began to spread from Yeykl's hand. It spread up his neck, eating into his vocal cords and cutting off his scream, but Yeykl would not let the silver haired annoyance die so quickly. He directed the rot down and it curled around Kakashi's arms and chest like a lover's embrace. The flesh it touched turned dark and rancid rotting off the bones. Yeykl kept Kakashi alive as long as he could, letting him feel his flesh slide off his bones in clumps and strings, but the destructive effects was too much for a body to take and Kakashi's eye fluttered shut. Labored breathing stopping. Heart stilling.

Yeykl felt the life leave his adversary and threw back his head in a maniacal laugh of triumph.

* * *

Tada! Another chapter as promised. Though with that cliffhanger maybe you wished I hadn't? Lol, this one was so fun to write! Please review and tell me what you think and how you think I can improve.

Thank you so much!


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